DSR DOUBLE TAKE
ADAM DAVIES AND DAVE STEEDMAN HAVE BEEN IN THE GAME SINCE THE EARLY DAYS — AND THOUGH THE CARS MAY HAVE CHANGED, AND THE POWER LEVELS DOUBLED SINCE THEN, THEIR SOLID FRIENDSHIP IS STILL THE GLUE THAT HOLDS TEAM DSR TOGETHER
Adam Davies and Dave Steedman are among the few original players left in the game of drifting. They’ve known each other for half their lives, and have learned a thing or two about how the other drives — we take a look at how this duo have upped their game from street cars in the old days, to round-winning track cars today.
Adam Davies and Dave Steedman have known each other for over half their lives. From their high-school days to today, these two have been meddling with anything and everything car related. Somewhere along the way — no doubt with oil-stained clothing, grease up to their elbows, and a beer in hand — Adam and Dave decided to establish Team DSR (Davies Steedman Racing).
It was 10 years ago that the duo first moved their street cars onto the track. Dave spoke fondly of his time as a beginner, but both he and Adam quickly realized street cars were not right for the level of drifting they aspired to. Dave recalls, “After a handful of track days I had the bug, and I decided to build my Nissan Cefiro A31 to a competitive level. Back then, though, a competition standard pretty much only consisted of a roll cage and 260kW at the rear wheels, and you were ready to go.”
The 180SX
Adam’s push from a street to a track-only build came after a big scare at Pukekohe Park Raceway. He had spun his Nissan 180SX in the middle of the sweeper, and was unable to restart before another drifter slid straight into him, causing irreparable damage. “This was an eye-opener for me. At the time the car had no roll cage, and to have survived such a horrific crash and walked away with only a few cuts and scrapes, I felt very lucky,” he said. “I realized very quickly the importance of safety within the motorsport industry.” With a spare shell already sitting in the shed, Adam’s first priority was to build a comprehensive eight-point roll cage that exceeded the minimum motorsport requirements. But this is about where the build veered off the traditional path. “I wanted this car to be unique. When I started the build, everyone in the drifting scene was predominantly running RB and SR engines.” Adam had his heart set on one power plant only — a Mazda 13B turbo. An engine and gearbox package came up for sale in the central North Island, and he wasted no time in securing the sale.
The engine was initially run unopened, and was equipped with a custom-made exhaust manifold. For many years now, Dave and Adam have entrusted Mike from Mac’s Mufflers to design and construct all their engineering components. The exhaust manifold was planned as a firm foundation for the Master Power turbo. “As my driving improved, I began to seek new initiatives that would benefit the car and continue to aid my driving style,” Adam said, so he sought the experience of Green Brothers Racing to rebuild the Mazda 13B. The build team upgraded the ports to an extended port setup and exchanged the Master Power turbo for a BorgWarner 300SX turbo, which was conveniently able to utilize the existing manifold.
Adam competed with this setup for two seasons of the D1NZ Pro-Am championship, before good results meant he was eligible to shift up into the Pro championship. He revisited the Green Brothers to have the rotang rebuilt. That included extensive porting on the 13Bs plates, resulting in a fierce-sounding semi-peripheralported monster. Mac’s Mufflers fabricated a new stainless twinscroll exhaust manifold with twin TiAL 44mm wastegates to house the new BorgWarner EFR 9180. A switch from a MicroTech to a Vi-Pec i44 ECU, and with Richard from Green Brothers working the keyboard, the new package produced a healthy 500kW at the rear wheels on 24psi.
The S14
The weapon of choice for the other half of Team DSR is a little more conventional. Dave’s Nissans have always run RB30s, although what you’ll find in his S14 today is a far cry from the 340kW RB30 that powered his previous Cefiro chassis in his early D1NZ days. The switch in chassis came after only three events, as Dave wanted to develop something lighter.
The S14 build began with the heart from the Cefiro, but as this engine setup was far from fit for purpose it’s been under constant development ever since, resulting in the current forged RB30DET powerhouse. The factory Nissan crankshaft supports Manly rods and Mahle RB25DET high-compression pistons. The R33 RB25DET head remains standard, however, it does house a pair of Kelford high-lift camshafts and valve springs. The factory intake runners were used to fabricate a custom-made front-facing plenum, and utilize an 80mm throttle body. The previous Garrett turbo was an adequate solution, but Dave’s desire to achieve ultimate performance lead him to the existing BorgWarner EFR 8374 twin-scroll turbocharger. To support the BorgWarner, a new custom exhaust manifold had to be constructed. Mac’s Mufflers delivered another beautiful
stainless twin-scroll manifold, which, like Adam’s, supports the new turbo and two 38mm TiAL wastegates, which merge under the passenger foot well into a 3.5-inch side-exit exhaust system. A Walbro intank fuel pump supplies E85 fuel to a custom Mac’s Mufflers stainless surge tank. From there two Bosch 044 pumps feed six Bosch 1680cc top-fed injectors. With the extensive modifications, Dave needed an ECU that was capable of complete engine management. A Link G4+ was fitted, and with the mad scientist — Darryl Turk (Chicken) from EFI and Turbo — behind the tune, a more than expected 615kW was achieved, but that was dialled back to a respectable 550kW on 20psi. Having stripped the third and fourth gears in numerous RB25DET gearboxes, Dave knew he would require a substantial upgrade to ensure reliability. A Tex Racing T101A four-speed dogbox was sourced directly from a Nascar, and has been used in the S14 chassis since.
Whilst previous setups allowed both Team DSR drivers to achieve some great results in D1NZ championship rounds, they are very focused on the 2016–’17 season. After having spent the 2016 winter working endless hours on the cars, they are quietly confident that they will perform better than they ever have before. Adam says, “We have such a great team behind us, who know the cars just as well as we do, and it means that Dave and I can leave our cars in their capable hands and focus on our driving.”
The long hours have clearly paid off this season, Dave took home his first-ever first-place podium at round two at Manfeild. That’s something that means the world to the team — to have a result they, and their very loyal sponsors, can be proud of. But they aren’t about to rest — there is the second half of the season to go, and no doubt many tweaks and challenges for the team to work through during the remainder of the season.